Interview: Breast Cancer Awareness 101 with Dr. Ro

With October being National Breast Cancer Awareness month, author and physician, Dr. Ro who appears on programs such as “Dr. Oz”, “The View” and NBC’s “Today” show to name a few discussing health and wellness, joined me to share information on breast cancer prevention, early detection and what breast cancer foundations we should be donating to.

Dr. Ro: “Well, the first thing is women should talk to their doctors because you need to get on the same page with where you are. Having said that, if you have a mother- if your mother or sister was diagnosed with breast cancer just know that your risk of the disease increases exponentially. But to have a diagnosis of breast cancer does not mean it’s a death sentence, there are many things that you can do, so you definitely want to talk to your doctor and get on the same page. But the other thing is early detection and prevention certainly are the cure, so having said that all women from the age of 40 on should definitely be getting annual mammograms, we cannot say that enough.”

Candace: How do you suggest we approach our doctors about it and what should we ask?

Dr. Ro: “Well, if you have any concerns whatsoever- whether it’s a family history or you see any symptoms of breast cancer, you want to just talk to your doctor about that and get a diagnosis or find out where you are in terms of your health care management; and you want to work together with your doctor.

Candace: At what age should women start doing self breast exams?

Dr. Ro: “Oh, they should start doing self breast exams from teenage years because you know women in their 20’s and 30’s are being diagnosed with breast cancer, so it’s happening for some women a lot sooner than it has in the past. So if you have a family history certainly in your 20’s but from the time you start having a cycle, it’s a good idea to do self breast exams.”

Candace: There are so many different breast cancer foundations out there, it’s hard for the average person to know which ones are legit, which ones we should donate to and which ones we should avoid. What do you suggest?

Dr. Ro: “I have three that I’d like to tell you about today because I’m very excited about the work that they’re doing in the partnerships for the fight against breast cancer. The first of which you can get involved by buying the right toilet tissue. Everybody needs it, right? So Cottonelle brand is partnering with Kroger food stores and an organization called Giving Hope a Hand and the way that they’re doing this is until October 8th (interview was taped) at Kroger you can buy Cottonelle brand Clean Care toilet tissue with specially wrapped pink package of Clean Care toilet tissue, and if you keep your receipt and look on the back you’ll find how you can get one of these nifty free toilet paper roll covers.

That said I want to tell you about Hoover. Now Hoover is a brand of course that deals with cleaning. It’s a cleaning product but they are partnering with an organization called Cleaning For A Reason, now I’m so excited about this partnership because Cleaning For a Reason cleans the home of a cancer patient every 90 minutes for free. This is significant especially if you are dealing with cancer treatment; you don’t have energy and you certainly don’t feel like cleaning up, that’s the least of your concern. So to have someone come in and clean the home for you is a huge gift and an incredible blessing so for more information about that partnership between Hoover and Cleaning For A Reason do visit Hoover.com.

And then I want to talk to you about the Duck brand because everyone’s familiar duct tape I know but the Duck grand is giving $100,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for the fight against breast cancer. They have an array of products from pink bubble wrap to packaging tape to duct tape. As a matter of fact what you see over my shoulder is a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon fashioned out of pink duct tape- like who knew? So for more information about what the duct tape brand is doing to give money to breast cancer research just visit DuckBrand.com.”

Candace: Do you have any additional information you’d like to share?

Dr. Ro: “Absolutely. You know women can start to eat better. This is part of the prevention picture; so to eat better buy colorful vegetables and fruit. I’m talking about dark leafy green vegetables, I’m talking about vegetables and fruit with deep yellow and orange pigment. And the reason is because the chemical compounds found in those pigments go a long way to fight chronic diseases and among them, breast cancer.”

Candace: Are vitamins as significant- do they help as much as eating vegetables?

Dr. Ro: “Well, you’re going to get nutrients from, you’re going to get your nutrients from the food; best to do it that way. But there is some interesting and growing information about the benefits of some vitamin supplementation. Again you want to work with a nutritionist or work with your doctor. And for all of the information that we talked about today, visit News2Know.com.”

Candace: Where can we go for more information on breast cancer statistics or treatment options?